Saturday Matinee – Guy Verlinde, The Cinelli Brothers w/ Connor Selby, Jay Hooks, and Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Belgian guitarist Guy Verlinde covers Hound Dog Taylor. He’s best known as a solo artist and as front man for The Mighty Gators and The Houserockers. There’s not much of a bio on his website other than a link to his Facebook page where there’s not much of a bio either.

Winners of the 2024 UK Blues Band of the Year, The Cinelli Brothers (Marco and Alessandro) revive 1960s – 70s vintage electric blues, R&B and soul with a modern vibe. Guest guitarist Connor Selby is no slouch either, having been named Traditional Blues Artist of the Year (2025).

In the 1990s, Texas bluesman Jay Hooks kickstarted what promised to be a successful career, but he burned out in 2005 due to unspecified personal troubles. 15 years later he began from scratch, reinventing his music and performing in bars; Hooks returned to the studio in 2024 to make his comeback official.

Robert Randolph & The Family Band – In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph 97th in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Big news this week: this year’s Super Bowl halftime show is gonna suck again, the word tardigrade offends some people, sombrero memes are racist, and I got a chair on the porch with my name on it. There are others available on a first come first sit basis, so see you there.

Saturday Matinee – Live at Crossroads 2010: Hubert Sumlin, Jimmie Vaughn and Robert Cray; Pino Daniele, Joe Bonamassa and Robert Randolph & The Family Band; AND ZZ Top

Wow. Hubert Sumlin, Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray at the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival.

Wow again. Pino Daniele, Joe Bonamassa with Robert Randolph & The Family Band were also at the 2010 CGF.

Good God can these three put out some loud! ZZ Top at the same place, same year.

It just dawned on me that it’s been 10 years since all that awesome went down. Lotta time flies buzzing around my head these days.

Have a great weekend, folks. Do what you wanna do, go where you wanna go. Don’t worry about a thing, and always remember: it’s not the heat, it’s the humanity. See you tomorrow.